Closure



July 11, 1950 F. G. DOBBS ETAL 2,514,750

- CLOSURE Filed Feb. 11, 1949 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTORS Fall/(6T 305i: am Step/5011i i055;

F. G. DOBBS ET AL July 11, 1950v CLOSURE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Feb. 11, 1949 INVENTORSI 1 7mm? 6. 50555 and EZep/zazz 15. fios,

779m?" 83ml.

Patented July 11, 1950 Frank G. Dobbs and Stephan H. Dobbs, New York, N. Y.

Application February 11, 1949, Serial No. 75,897

Claims.

The invention relates to closures and relates more particularly to'closures for use in connection with receptacles, such as purses, pouches, hand or cosmetic bags, or the like.

It is the principal aim of the invention to provide simple closures for such receptacles that are easyto manufacture and will stay in good working orderfor very long periods of time.

' Another object of the invention is the provision "of, such closures that will temporarily seal the receptacle air and dust tight.

Another object of the invention is to provide for closures, of the type referred to that will normally remain in closed position and may be opened manually without great effort.

A'further object of the invention is the provision of elements insuch a closure mechanism, the elements being obtainable from a, single preformed piece ofs'tock. 1

1 A stil1:further object of the invention is to provide for such a closure mechanism having memtures ofconstructiom;combination of elements and, arrangement of parts which will be exemplified in a construction hereinafter set forth and the scope of the application of which will be. indicated in the claims.

. In the accompanying drawings,

Fig. l is an elevational view of a receptacle of the type referred to provided with a closure in accordance with the invention;

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of theembodiment shown in Fig. 1, but illustrating thereceptacle opened;

Fig. 3 is a sectional View, on an enlarged scale, taken along line 33 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a sectional view, similar to Fig. 3, but

' taken along-line 44'of Fig. 1;

showing the closure mechanism slightly opened and embodying a modification;

Fig. 7 is a sectional view similar to the preceding views, but disclosing a further modification;

Fig. 8 is another modified sectional view;

Fig. 9.is'a further modified sectional view;

Fig. 1 0 is a'fragrnentary elevational view, as seen in direction Ill-l0 of Fig. 2; and i Fig. 11 is a fragmentary sectional view, embodying a further modification.

In carrying the invention into effect in the embodimentswhich have been selected for illustration in the accompanying drawings and for description in this specification, and referring now particularly to Figs. 1 and 2, there is provided a receptacle, generally indicated at I I, that has a closure mechanism designated I2- For the purpose of presentation, the receptacle illustrated in the drawing has been assumed to be a small size cosmetic bag, but it will be understood that the invention is equally suitably applicable to other receptacles. Furthermore, ithas been assumed that the material of the receptacle as well as that of the closure members consists of heatsealable plastic and that the various separate parts are secured to each other, where such connections occur, by heat-sealing; however, it will be understood that the invention should not be considered as limited in that sense, save as restricted in the claims hereof, as other suitable materials may be substituted for the preferred material mentioned, and the connection also be made by stitching or by other suitable means. i

The closure mechanism I2 comprises two oppo-' sitely disposed longitudinal members I4 and I6,

and each member is secured to the open side or aperture l3 of the receptacle H, by being heatsealed thereto as indicated at 2|. As best shown in Figs. 2 and 10, the longitudinal ends of 'the' members are sealed to each other, at I! and 18, respectively, and run side by side for a portion at these ends. Intermediate these ends the remainder of the members are independent of each other and separable, though normally placed adjoining one another. a

The closure mechanism may be opened by exerting manual pressure lengthwise of the members l4 and [6, as illustrated in Fig. 2, or, if desired, suitable handles I9 may be provided for the members to facilitate pulling apart of the movable member portions, as best shown in Fig. 9.

The members [4 and I6 are made sufliciently resilient so that the middle portions that are separable from each other are normally :pressed together to provide for tight closure. This pressure usually sufiices for the purpose, particularly where small size receptacles are involved. However, where it is desired to have very strong closing pressure, and particularly for large receptacles, a pressure or tightening element 22 may be provided, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. That element 22 is arranged slidably on the members and has lower, inward turned terminals 23 that slide in grooves 24 and 26 of the members It and l6, respectively. These grooves 24 and 26 extend either from one end to the other on the members, or from one end to the middle of the 3 members, and permit sliding of the tightening element 22 between a tighteningposition shown 4 the closure mechanism may be made from a single piece of stock, such as that shown in Fig. 5. The stock may be extruded or pressed or be otherwise prepared and will preferably be in longitudinal form, and may be coiled or otherwise stored prior to cutting it into pieces forming members I4 and [6. The stock has on one side a longitudinal ridge or projection 21 and oppositely, and coaxially, arranged thereto a corresponding recess or groove 28. The oblique surfaces 29 of the projection intersect the pro-- jection-side of the stock at two parallel lines that are separated from each other for a distance a; the oblique surfaces 3! of the groove 28 are substantially parallel to the projection surfaces 29, but intersect the groove-side of the stock at '"two parallel lines that are Spaced for a distance smaller than a.

in Fig. 1, and an end position shown in Fig. "2' where the members are paralleland where the element 22 does not obstruct the opening of the closure mechanism. The element 22 mayhave a handle for convenience in sliding the same along the members.

The tightening elementi22 has legs that extend along the outside of. each member and which may be arranged to press there against for urging the members towards each other, as best shown in Fig. 4. There may even be provided a plurality of tightening members where the separable stretch of the. members isvery long, but this modification has not been illustrated-in the drawing. Furthermore, the tightening element may be connected only to one member permanently and to the other during pressure exertion only, and may be otherwise arranged within the scope of the appended claims, without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention.

Instead of pre-tensioning the resilient members so that they will normally be adjoining throughout their lengths,.they may also be preformed to be normally spaced'apart between the end portions to hold normally the closure mechanism open; the closing of the mechanism would then be accomplished solely by a tightening element 22 of the type referred to;

The members l4 and It are provided with means to insure a dust and air tight fit, for instance the member 3 has a projection 21 and.

the member iii a corresponding recess 28, as shown in Figs. 3 and .4. Although the surfaces of the tapered projection. 27 are substantially parallel to those of the tapered recess-28 that is opposite to the projection 21, the base orthe projection 21 is wider than the contour of intersection between the surfaces of the recess 28 and the inner side of the member I6; thereby, the projection 21 cannot enter completely into the recess 28, thus assuring an optimum fit. The remainders of the members are separated by a slight gap, and only the projection and recess are interengaged. The projection as well as the recess may extend, in form of a groove, over the entire length of the respective members to provide for tight closing throughout the elongatlon of the members and thus throughout the extension of the aperture l3 of the receptacle. The member M which carries the projection 21, and the member in which the recess 28 is formed may be termed male and female member, re-

fb from each other, and the distance 1) is The terminal surface 32 of the projection 21 has a width c and the ground surface 33 of the groove 28 has a width 11, and the latter is smaller than the width 0 for a difference comparable to the difference between the distances b and a. The elevation e of the projection 21 and the depth ,1 of the groove 28 are about equal in size.

Thus, when two pieces cut from the stock are placed side-by-side, the projection 2.1 of one will fit accurately into the groove 28 of the other and the terminal surface 32 of the. first will be spaced from the ground surface 33 of the other preventing contact therebetween that might result in loose interengagement between projection and groove. Thereby, a male and a female member are created, of the type shown in Fig. 3. Where it is desired to have the sliding grooves 24 and 26, they would both be provided in the stock, as shown at 25. The projection and groove are both converging, as may be seen, and are substantially corresponding to each other.

The members I4 and 15 may be covered to conceal their form from View, as shown in Fig. 6. This modification provides for sleeve elements 34 and 36 for the members l4 and [6, respectively, and the members are completely surrounded by the sleeves and the latter either sealed to the receptacle, or, as illustrated, may be integral with the receptacle, and envelope the members and then be sealed to the remainder of the receptacle. The sleeves may either surround the members loosely, as shown in connection with the sleeve 34, or be sealed thereto to line the surfaces thereof as shown in connection with the sleeve 36.

Such a sleeve, where only one member is surrounded, or each of both sleeves in the illustrated embodiment, has a portion on the inner side of themember that acts as awedge between the projection and groove when the members are interengaged; this wedging provides for complete temporary sealing of the members to prevent the passage of dust and air there between.

In the illustrations of Figs. '7 and. 8, modified forms of members of the closure mechanism are shown, the members .31 and 38 or Fig. 7 having both fiat outer surfaces, and the receptacle is sealed to the members on the upper interior sides. The members 39 and 4 I. of Fig. 8 are similar to the members 31 and 38, but have a rounded shape for pleasing appearance, and the receptacle is shown connected to the members at the inner two recesses 47 corresponding to the projections 43 and a projection 48 therebetween corresponding to the recess 44. The recesses and grooves are all converging correspondingly, but the recesses are converging at a slightly smaller rate of convergence than the projections, thereby insuring good fit between corresponding recesses and projections.

In the modification of Fig. 11, the two members and 52 of the closure mechanism are different from the previous ones in that they are not profiled but have straight surfaces. They are, however, also resilient to be normally adjacent each other. A layer 53 of rubber or similar yieldable, soft material is connected to one of the members, for instance by gluing it, at 54, to the member 5|, or by otherwise suitably securing it. This rubber layer will also insure light and air-tight closure of the mechanism, as it will completely be lined against the opposite member. If desired, one or .both members may furthermore be profiled in accordance with one or more of the foregoing illustrations, and the rubber layer 53 will then be lined against the protrusions and recesses of the opposite member for tight closing. The members 5| and 52 are preferably made of plastic, but they may also be made of other suitable resilient material.

We do not limit ourselves to the particular details of construction set forth in the foregoing specification and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, as the same refer to and set forth only certain embodiments of the invention and it is obvious that the same may be modified, within the scope of the appended claims, without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

It is accordingly desired that in construing the breadth of the appended claims they shall not be limited to the specific exemplifications of the invention described herein.

Having thus described the invention, what we claim as new and desire to be secured by Letters Patent, is as follows:

1. In a closure mechanism, to be used in connection with a hollow receptacle open at one side, two longitudinal members secured at opposite sides to said receptacle, at least a portion of one member being movable from and to a normal rest position adjacent a portion of the other member to open and to close the receptacle, respectively, in combination with, a longitudinal projection on one member including a base and surfaces extending therefrom, at least two of said surfaces being tapered, and a recess flaring outwardly formed in the other member and having at least two tapered surfaces, said recess being disposed opposite said projection and the tapering of the recess surfaces matching that of said projection surfaces for interengagement thereof, whereby said members will normally be interengaged throughout said projection and recess and the remainder of said members be spaced from each other.

2. In a closure mechanism as claimed in claim 1, together with, said first member having a recess having a contour like said mentioned recess, and said second member having a projection like said named projection, whereby said members may be cut from a single piece of prepared stock.

3. In a closure mechanism as claimed in claim 1, together with, at least one of said members surrounded by an envelope connected to said receptacle, said envelope arranged to be wedged between the contact surfaces of said members upon closure.

4. In a closure mechanism as claimed in claim 1, together with, said members and receptacle being of thermoplastic material, and said members having each a fiat outer surface covered by and heat-sealed to said receptacle for concealment.

5. In a closure mechanism as claimed in claim 1, together with, said members having flat outer surfaces and a rounded top and protruding laterally beyond the contour of the receptacle at said side.

FRANK G. DOBBS. STEPHAN I-I. DOBBS.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,959,318 Sundback May 15, 1934 2,039,887 Colletti May 5, 1936 2,144,755 Freedman Jan. 28, 1939 2,358,653 Mock Sept. 19, 1944 

